FAVORITE WRITERS TO LOVE AND HATE

Favorite writers have an audience of you, and you are demanding.

You know what you want and don’t want.

Most of all, you don’t want to be disappointed, forced to find someone new.

You don’t want someone new, and the writer doesn’t want to lose you.

How does this workout? With new material.

Sure, you could go back and re-read the old stuff, even read books others recommended after they read the one you liked.

That reading list would last years, take lots of work, and for what?

All the while you’d be thinking about that new book, the next book, and the story that has all the loose ends tied up in pretty bows.

 

A Story Of Two Books About President Garfield

Last night the wife and I finished the fourth and final installment of Death By Lightning.

It’s an historical mini-series with money spent on sets and costumes to bring an era to life, along with salty language.

As a competent history man I looked for source material and found two books, Death By Lightning and Destiny Of The Republic.

The disparate reviews couldn’t have been more revealing.

 

Death By Lighting

– This is not the book that the Death by Lightning Netflix story was based on. It’s a pale off shoot featuring language that II recognized from Wikipedia. The book you are looking for is Destiny of the Republic. This is a rip off.

– 7$ wasted. Just watch the 4 part prime series.

– I really don’t know what this is, but it’s not a book or history. It’s basically a very repetitive short story (less than 120 pages, large type and double spaced) of James Garfield and his killers. There are no sources, no footnotes or bibliography. I presumed self published. Don’t waste your money and buy a proper history of James Garfield.

 

Destiny Of The Republic

– Ms. Millard does American history writing a service in Destiny of the Republic in several ways: 1) Rigorous research; 2) Shining a light on a sometimes neglected part of our history; 3) Providing a terrific narrative arc.

– One of the absolute best books I’ve read. Very detailed and interesting account of the lives of one of America’s most interesting and endearing men.

From Japan:

– ヒーローの魅力溢れる伝記、彼を慕う国民が生き生きと描かれる。それにしても、医学の先端を走る現代アメリカからは想像できないような当時の迷信医療は慄然

(This biography is full of the hero’s charm, and the people who admired him are vividly depicted. However, the superstitious medical practices of that time, which are unimaginable in modern America with its cutting-edge medicine, are truly chilling.)

 

Two books on the same topic, one revered, one reviled.

Choose wisely.

 

Writers See The Bigger Picture

When a writer does their research they write with a particular gravity.

They may read three books to get one paragraph correct.

They may want to feel some of the things their characters felt, though no one wants to experience the treatment Garfield got from his doctor.

Taking from the good, the bad, and the ugly, a good writer leans into experience and empathy.

I’m choosing empathy instead of the quack-attack of medicine Garfield did not endure.

Use direct experience for more domestic activities.

Fitzgerald wrote about drunken behavior and died an alcoholic:

 

The distractions of Great Neck and New York prevented Fitzgerald from making progress on his third novel. During this time his drinking increased. He was an alcoholic, but he wrote sober.

Zelda Fitzgerald regularly got “tight,” but she was not an alcoholic. There were frequent domestic rows, usually triggered by drinking bouts.

 

Should writers do it the F. Scott Fitzgerald way?

If they have had alcohol related incidents with negative impact, or near negative impact, they know enough to write. 

You don’t need to make a scene to write a scene.

That’s Mark Twain in Tesla’s lab in the top image.

 

The Writer And The Audience 

The writer puts the reader to sleep?

Don’t do that.

No tears in the writer means no tears in the reader.

The writer nods off in real time?

Do that at home, not a birthday party.

Showing off your arm indoors? Not good.

You stink to high heaven? Only if you’re a dead skunk in the middle of the road.

If you have favorite writers, you have one person to thank: Gilgamesh.

 

Gilgamesh encourages hope in that, even though one may not be able to live forever, the choices one makes in life resonate in the lives of others.

These others may be friends, family, acquaintances, or may be strangers living long after one’s death who continue to be touched by the eternal story of the refusal to accept a life without meaning.

 

PS: When you achieve greatness you’ll know by the words of others after telling yourself ‘you can do it.’

 

PSS: Greatness in a writer lies in experience and the ability to convey meaning. If you see something and feel something, write it out. If it’s guilt, shame, or embarrassment, all the better. Ask me how I know. (Hey D)